what is your fav memory of the 2001 season?

Wow… hard to say.
Some of them are as follows:
1) Fla. Trip to IOA, Sea World, and BGT.
2) (believe it or not) Dutch Wonderland trip (finally got to ride SkyPrincess… passed it MANY times, but never stopped)
3) Dorney Park visit. First time there since 1980. Loved Steel Force, Talon and Thunderhawk, and didn’t think Hercules was actually all that bad either.

4) Hersheypark in the Dark: 7 rides in a row (last 3 with out even leaving my seat) on the Comet to close out the 2001 coaster season.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 2/11/2002. ***

Riding Roar in a total down pour with ejector air so big in back that my 16 year old daughter screamed and grabbed me around the head to hang on. This is one woodie that really picks up when it gets wet.

2 days of Discovery Channel filming on Batwing.

For me my first trip to Knoebels and my first ride on The Phoenix. I look at wooden coasters differently now that I rode that incredible ride. That park amazed me as well; great rides and coasters, great food, lots of shade, friendly staff, free parking, free admission, and the best haunted house I ever went on. And I've been on the ones at DL and WDW.

As well as my first ride on Hypersonic: XLC at PKD, mannnn, I screamed like a little girl on that thing. Hey at least I admit it!
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Gravity is your friend!

*** This post was edited by go with gravity on 2/11/2002. ***

Great memories of 2001!!

1. Meeting tons of new friends

2. Rideing X-Flight for the first time on the first day it opened to the public.(also meet the posse 'qween' for the first on this same day)

3. Le Villain night rides! and Fright Fest

4. Hitting PKI for the first time in a long, long time. And rideing the Beast for the first time.

ECR

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Did someone say coasters?

Visiting IOA and BGT for the first time.

The look of sheer delight on my 10 year old daughter's face as we rode Viper at SFGAm. She "loved the way her butt came out of the seat". She wanted to go right back on. My favorite coaster is now her favorite, too. :) :)
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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

This last season I visited a lot of new parks and really started on this whole "enthusiast" thing. I experienced many new rides and new parks and have broadened my senses to more thrills than my local homeparks have to offer. Here are a few highlights though...

1. Actually being part of an actual station brakes failure (those of you that play RCT know what these are) On Montu the train I was riding on missed the brakes in the station and we went right through. (mind you we were previously stopped on the approach to the station). They stopped the ride and unloaded us on the lift hill. Way cool experience!

2. Riding Millenium(sp) Force for the first time. And also being lucky enough to ride it the first day we were at CP because the next day the lift cable snapped and the ride was closed for the rest of our trip. Watching the maintenance people going up and down the lift hill in the basket was really neat.

3. Getting to know Raging Bull better. I think I rode this coaster a 100 times this summer and it never gets old. This ride will always be one of my favorites.

4. Getting to know Viper better. I rode this like twice previous to this season and somewhere I got it in my head that I hated this coaster. What in the ---- was I thinking? This ride is great and I "rediscovered" it this last season.

5. X-Flight - Flying totally rocks. I rode it only once, but it was the most memorable coaster ride I have ever had. Cannot wait to do the B&M version and the Arrow 4D.

6. Getting hooked up on this board with you fine folks discussing an absolutely facinating topic.

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Bob Hansen

"Excuse me while I kick the sky!"
kickthesky@hotmail.com

Riding Boulder Dash 8 times in a row and then getting stuck in Zoomerang's boomerang for hours, all on the same day.

The Ultimate Bordum-Riding Grizzly at Great America continuosly for 3 hours.

4 walk on rides in a row on Superman:Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England

Finally getting Daniel Nowicki to face Medusa at Six Flags Marine World(I went with him for support)

*** This post was edited by Vertigo on 2/11/2002. ***

As LoadedG said: The 2001Season has too many Great Memories to list but some of mine are:

S:UE!! (GLITTER!!)

X~Flight

The formation of the POSSE and Evil Jester

And making a lot of Friends!! If it wasn't for Coasters I wouldn't know 1/2 of the Great people who I was lucky enough to meet in 2001...

I Hope 2002 is as Good as 2001!!

2001 has been my best year for coasters so far:

1. Riding X-Flight and watching my friend shake from nervousness.

2.Riding Lightning Racer at CoasterCon, a great coaster that we rode again and again.

3. Riding Wild Mouse @ Hershey during CC 30 times in one day.

4. My first CoasterCon.

2002 is gonna be even better!

I experienced my......
1.First giga,
2.first hyper,
3.first S&S Space Shot,
4.first bobsled,
5.first standup,
6.tallest woodie,
7.most underated woodie,
8.smoothest steel racer,
9.first B&M inverted,
10.first Arrow corkscrew,
11.first Schwarzkopf
Guess where I went this summer? :)
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My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
http://www.woodencoaster.com

I would guess Cp, but they don't have the tallest woodie.

Shaggy

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Shaggy
A.K.A. John K.

He said *his* tallest woodie.

Anyway, mine would have to be riding the Raven in the dusk with a lightning storm coming closer and sprinkling rain, in the back seat, over and over again, during my first time at HW, then running through the pouring rain waaaaay over to the other side of the parking lot as fast as we can and laughing the whole way.

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You can't spell "dishonorable" without "honorable."

I went to a variety of places last season, many new to me, but my favorite experience would have to be Deja Vu (@SFGam) in the front seat with the people closest to me filling most of the seats of the train....there's nothing quite like being dragged up the first tower face down with nothing but ground and the pond below.

1. Getting a "special" ride on the CLP Blue Streak with the lift lit up.
2. Rides on Shivering Timbers with one click on my lap bar.
3. Figuring out that Indiana Beach stays open to midnight instead of 11:00 pm on Saturdays in the summer, and riding Cornball Express repeatedly for an extra hour.
4. Knoebel's. From the Phoenix to Cheese on a Stick, this place rules.

*** This post was edited by chris on 2/11/2002. ***

Rode most different types of coasters ever in my years.

Flyer, 4d, Invertigo, GIB,Floorless, Impulse. Ohh and Getting stuck on deja Vu yeah that was fun.

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The Scream Site
http://www.screamsite.cjb.net

When I said "Thank You!" just before the first drop on Nitro, one week after it opened.

my favorite memories were going to cedar point for the first time, going to busch gardens williamsburg, and riding batwing for the filming of it for the discovery channel

It was a HELL of a year. I added 83 coasters to my count and made my first coaster trips to the mid-west and north-east. It began and ended locally with Solace and the opening of DCA to start, and they debut of X to end. In between, the following magic memories:

- The wonderful event Knotts put on for us.Very generous ERT, the best park luncheon ever (fried chicken for miles!) and the mighty Ghostrider at it's finest. And, of course, the Kiddie Whip takeover!

- Experiencing DCA: OK, it's not totally top of the line, but the best of what's there is stellar. I especially remember scoring 18 exit passes at the Season Passholder Preview and riding California Screaming until we couldn't ride it no more!

-My first SRM. I knew I had a new #1 after my first ride on Raven...which lasted all the way until my first ride on Legend! Watching and listening as the thunder and lightning bore down on us...not wimpy Calif. lightning, but the real mid-west stuff. Standing out in a downpour, getting soaked with Cindy Stout. And that last ride on Legend, last seat at the end of ERT. SRM became mandatory somewhere around the double up!

-My first Beast night ride. Utterly stunning! It didn't seem that braked to me, and the helix is just NUTS!

-Magnum beating out MF as my new #1 steel. I expected it to be the other way around. Magnum ended up being my 100th coaster and took over #1. Great rides, ERT conditions, endless airtime!

-Kennywood: spending the day with a group of flat-ride enthusiasts as we explored the mysteries of Kennywood.

-Deja Vu suprising me with how good it was!

-The ACE day at Legoland. The combination of my family and my wacky coaster friends was a lot of fun, and the park really took nice care of us. And they have one of the best wild mice in the world!

-My first PPP. Not quite as good as SRM, but still much better than a normal day at any park. Knoebel's was beautiful, the food was great, and all the reports I had heard about the park and the event still didn't equal how good it actually was. No anticipointment here!

-Another new #1 steel: riding S:ROS at SFA on a cold, pitch-black October night. With sunglasses on. ROCK!

-Not really coaster-related, but visiting NYC for the first time was a true highlight of an awesome year. It sucks those bastards kept me from going up in the WTC and from riding the Cyclone, but NYC was a real stunner anyways and I will never forget the time I spent there.

-Lastly, ending the year with yet another new #1 steelie, as X opened just under the wire for 2001. After 55 rides, I'm still dying to get out there and go on it again. Truly a new frontier in coaster design...now I hope economic realities don't make it a one-off.

2002 will have to go a long ways to equal all the fun I had last year!

bASS

My first "Big Bang Plus" on VertiGO...cant wait to do it again.
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"Yeah, they did it in Superman 3"